Review: Eschatology: Biblical, Historical and Practical Approaches by D. Jeffrey Bingham and Glenn R. Kreider, editors. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2016, 501 pages. This book is a celebration of the work of Craig A. Blaising. Though I am not a Progressive Dispensationalist, I do like Blaising’s writing. He always approaches a subject from interesting angles, and usually makes important points. The book is divided into the three sections of the subtitle, plus a beginning section on foundational matters. The list …
Category: Biblical Studies
Part One The whole episode in Genesis 15 is highlighted by the time stamp in verse 18, “On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…” Yahweh declares that He has already given the land to Abram’s descendants. Therefore, as we have said, the covenant serves to reinforce and amplify the plain and clear word of God. But what about the dimensions of the Promised Land? Can they be determined? If they can, can we say that Abram’s …
This is another excerpt from the book I am trying to write. The Abrahamic covenant is pivotal to the history biblical which unfolds thereafter, and Genesis 15 is perhaps the key passage to understand with respect to it.[1] The initiative is God’s, and it is here that God binds Himself by oath to perform the details of the promises He makes to Abraham. It will be useful to reproduce the first part of the chapter. After these things the word …
Part One Before moving on I should say that the promise to make Abram’s name great[3] is not a part of the covenant oath which God takes in Genesis 15. It is worth noting that a covenant then is more than just a promise. God can promise something without including it within a covenant. As we shall see, a lot of confusion has come about by Bible teachers not taking care to differentiate between a promise of God within a …
Part One Dimensions Where did the waters of the flood come from? The Gilgamesh Epic and similar flood stories (e.g. Berossus) say that the cause of the flood was a mighty downpour.[1] There is no great stress laid on the “fountains of the deep” as in Genesis.[2] But Scripture reveals not just rainfall but massive subterranean upheavals producing water gushes unfathomable in their strength. In Gilgamesh the craft is a cube about 200 feet square. Heidel gives its displacement at …
This is something I wrote for Dispensational Publishing House God and the Waters of Creation In the very first chapter of the Bible there is an awful lot of water. It does not come from the sky, nor does it run off the mountainous slopes of Hermon. The waters (mayim) which are mentioned first in Genesis 1:2 are just “there” after the initial act of creation. These waters are there even before any land is present. In fact, water is …
Part One We have been considering the centrality of the Person of Jesus for an understanding of ourselves in the created order. We continue with a look at the Prologue to John’s Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. – John 1:1-3 So again, this …
Right now I am rather preoccupied with preparing for a surprise new one in August. I posted this study some years back and thought it slipped through the cracks. Anyway, here’s part 1. Part 2 to follow soon. Introduction For the Christian, without the Lord Jesus Christ life means nothing. Whatever other people say; however the non-Christian tries to answer the question of meaning, the Christian sees no answer to the big questions of life; no remedy for the plight …
Adam is Tested In the next section (2:15-17) we read of God giving the man a straightforward command: Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an actual tree. It is not called a symbol and need not be seen …
Part Eight Adam, Guard or Keeper? Genesis 2:15 has recently stirred the imaginations of a whole group of OT scholars. The reason for this is that they think they observe intimations that all was not well with the good world which Yahweh Elohim had made. For one thing, as we have already said, the garden of Eden was an enclosed garden (gan). Why was it enclosed? Well, maybe because it was the initial safe point of departure for the man …
